I’ll never forget it. One day, back in the ’80s when Coleman Young was mayor, Billy Dee Williams was in town making a guest appearance at an event benefitting physically challenged kids.
At one point, a reporter asked Williams how he liked Detroit, and he responded, “You don’t want me to answer that.”
More recently — last week in fact — a friend of mine who used to live in Detroit but now lives in Los Angeles told me that his neighbor, who has never been here, said he thought of Detroit as a dangerous “Third World country.” He added that he had heard about new developments, but still would not come here under any circumstances. His focus stayed on the negative things he saw on television, heard on the radio and read in newspapers. Fortunately, that kind of coverage has lessened.
Sure, we had and have our problems, but Detroit is hardly unique in that sense. This tough, resilient city has a lot to be proud of and a lot to offer.
The focus here is on the arts, primarily music, but also including television and movies.
Smokey Robinson said that when Motown Record Corp. was reaching unprecedented heights in the ’60s, some record companies started recording in Detroit, thinking there was something “magic” about the city itself. “Like there was something in the air or the water,” joked Robinson.
No, it was Berry Gordy and his massive brigade of singers, songwriters, musicians, producers, executives and promoters. And it almost seemed that it was meant to be, set up by a Higher Power.
In the history of the recording industry, no company had ever had so many major hits, first in the U.S. and then abroad. The Supremes, the Four Tops, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Diana Ross, Mary Wells, Stevie Wonder, Martha & the Vandellas, the Marvelettes, Jr. Walker & the All Stars and many more.
Amazing!
And then there are the many artists who had no affiliation with Motown, such as Aretha Franklin, Freda Payne, Bettye LaVette, Keith Washington, Jackie Wilson, One Way featuring Al Hudson, the Dramatics, Don Was, Ray Parker, Jr., Michael Henderson, Della Reese, Jack White, the Floaters, Enchantment, Kem, Anita Baker, Dwele, Little Willie John, the Detroit Emeralds, George Clinton-Parliament-Funkadelic, Cherrelle, the Jones Girls, Aaliyah and many more.
Jazz is also a Detroit specialty. The city has given the world some of the best and continues to do so. Think of Earl Klugh, Kenny Burrell, Geri Allen, Ron Carter, Yusef Lateef, Roland Hanna, Donald Byrd, Straight Ahead, Betty Carter, Roy Brooks, Tommy Flanagan, James Carter, Milt Jackson, Marcus Belgrave and Harold McKinney, to name a few.
Detroit is well known for its prowess in the field of gospel music. In fact, it is often cited as the gospel music capital of the world, thanks to such notables as the Winans family (nine separate acts!), the Clark Sisters (five acts!), Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Fred Hammond, Thomas Whitfield, Commissioned, Witness and J Moss, among others.
Detroit also produced Eminem, the first white rapper to achieve superstardom. Big Sean is a major attraction. J Dilla, Royce da 5’9” and Obie Trice are also important names.
The Motor City is where techno music was created, developed by Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, Juan Atkins and Eddie Fowlkes.
Detroit doesn’t come up short in the blues department either: John Lee Hooker, Alberta Adams, Thornetta Davis, Johnnie Bassett, Little Sonny and on the story goes.
Then, when you step outside of music, the attractions include comedian-actor David Alan Grier, famed film director-screenwriter-producer Francis Ford Coppola (“The Godfather,” “Patton,” “Apocalypse Now”), comedienne-actress Lily Tomlin, radio personality Casey Kasem, reality TV star and pageant winner Kenya Moore, television producer-TV host Byron Allen, actress Marlo Thomas, comedian-actor John Witherspoon and actor Robert Wagner, among others.
In so many ways, Detroit is a mecca for talented people.
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